Thursday, August 16, 2012

Building a Dual-Resonant Solid State Tesla Coil (DRSSTC)

It’s been a long time since I built something that isn’t a robot, a motor controller, anelectric vehicle, or a multirotor. Also, the Edgerton Center Summer Engineering Workshop (responsible for the DIY Segway, BWD Scooter, Cap Kart, and tinyKart) isn’t running this year, so I feel the need to take on a summer project of my own. Inspired by the work of MITERS regulars Tyler, Daniel, Bayley, and Ggy, I’m attempting to build..
Specifically, I’m building a Dual-Resonant Solid State Tesla Coil (DRSSTC). Tesla coils generate high voltage and pretty sparks using electromagnetic induction. They’re loosely-coupled air-core transformers where the world is your output load. (Or just the toroidal “top load” and the air around the Tesla coil.) “Dual-resonant” implies that both the primary and the secondary form RLC series resonant circuits, tuned to about the same natural frequency. “Solid state” implies that the primary circuit is driven (near resonant frequency) by transistors, usually IGBTs although I will be starting with MOSFETs.